Napster
by Maloreiy
Summary: Hermione Granger spends three hours every week in bed with Draco Malfoy. But she has no idea that it's him. (Rated K! It's not that kind of story!) S&R: CONSTRUCTIVE REVIEWS WELCOME
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction using characters and elements from the world of Harry Potter, created and trademarked by JK Rowling. I do not claim ownership over any Harry Potter characters or the Harry Potter world. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and is not claiming to be any part of the Harry Potter canon. Thank you to JK Rowling for letting me play with the characters and not suing me for writing them into a new situation.**_

* * *

 _ **Warnings/Additional Disclaimer:** This story sort of implies that it's dealing with mental health. The subject content is extremely mild, and is dealt with very lightly, and this note is probably going to seem completely unnecessary to most of you by the time you get to the end of the story. This note is just in case._

 _This story is not meant to be taken as any kind of psychological advice or commentary on how to cope with or understand PTSD, night terrors, sleep disorders, depression, or anxiety of any kind. Any representation of the symptoms of the disorders, representation of the disorders themselves, and representation of the treatments of the disorders that you might be able to discern in the story… may all be completely inaccurate, and not intended to reflect any particular disorder (or mental injury). It is also not meant to belittle or make light of anyone suffering from any kind of mental or emotional disorder. I am not a mental health professional. The characters in the story are not mental health professionals. I fully understand that this is a bit of a crack-fic premise, and may require considerable suspension of disbelief._

* * *

NAPSTER

* * *

Chapter 1

* * *

Draco walked into the office on Friday morning the same way he did every Friday morning. There was a partners' meeting first thing, and so he came prepared with all of his notes in his briefcase and a Quick Quotes quill, just in case. He rarely needed it, since it was just Blaise and Pansy, but sometimes it was helpful when they were trying to sound out new ideas or discussing staff changes.

The three friends had gone into business together, and Napster, their controversial brain child, was just finishing up its first year. Against all the odds and the extremely negative press, they had actually thrived in the post-war environment and were even considering expanding their facilities.

It had begun with a chance remark by Justin Finch-Fletchley when Pansy and he had begun a serious relationship.

Prior to her dating the Hufflepuff, she had relied heavily on Blaise and Draco for meeting her emotional needs from the trauma of the war. As best friends, they kept her breakdowns quiet, but it wasn't unusual to have her Flooing to the flat of one or the other and throwing herself into their arms. Sometimes she just needed a hug. More often than not, the night terrors that were brought on by the war resulted in her needing to spend the night in their room, or sometimes their bed, just so she wouldn't be alone.

When she tearfully explained the unusual arrangement to her then-boyfriend-but-now-fiancé Justin, he'd taken it all in stride. Since it clearly caused him a moment of concern, Draco and Blaise were quick to assure him that the comfort they gave to their friend had always been purely platonic. Draco was the first to tell him that they would be glad when those duties were turned over entirely to him.

Justin had gamely quipped, "Well, Hufflepuffs always like a good hug."

Then they'd joked about it until Pansy had stopped crying and had started smiling, the love that was beaming from her eyes as she looked on her Badger Boy making the other two Slytherins decidedly uncomfortable. She'd thanked Draco and Blaise for being such good friends, and then laughed and said, "It's too bad we can't market safe naptimes. I can't be the only one after the war who suffers like this and can't get any relief, or even some restful sleep."

And Justin had chimed in, "You could call it Napster!" Then he'd proceeded to laugh hysterically at his own joke, which none of the Slytherins understood. Apparently it was a Muggle reference.

A year later, Napster was a reality. Despite opposition from the conservative Wizarding community, they'd gotten their permits to open a facility that marketed a safe place to nap...and a friend to nap with.

The newspapers and gossip rags had been rife with dirty jokes about the true purpose of their business, but they'd silenced them all with iron-clad legal agreements and an extremely professional business model.

Clients made appointments in three-hour increments and were provided a secure room to have a nap along with a warm body to sleep next to. The Napster workers leaned heavily on former Hufflepuffs, as Justin had spoken true when he'd stated that Hufflepuffs might as well be named Hugglepuffs. Each worker was Polyjuiced to prevent their identity from being compromised. The Polyjuice Potion had been especially developed for their company, and the recipe was proprietary. It lasted just over three hours, and was safe to use regularly. The workers referred to the different identities as 'avatars' and all of the avatars were unassuming, friendly-looking men and women of various ages, to give clients a range of preference.

The rules were very strict. The client was there for a safe nap and the soothing comfort of a human presence. The avatars provided this, within the client's comfort level—and nothing more. Any type of inappropriate touching, sexual activity, or violence was strictly forbidden, and all clothing must remain on at all times. Hugging, of course, was often part of the job. But chatting about personal lives or giving away any information that could compromise the avatar's identity were grounds for being fired and then sued.

Avatars were also not allowed to sleep on duty. The client slept; the avatars kept watch. Sometimes it was quite a boring job. But each of the workers had been magically bound to the job requirements, and there were spells on all of the rooms that actually made it impossible for them to break those rules.

Napster prided itself on being a haven for the broken souls who came out of the war, and valued its integrity in all things. Their client list was confidential, their employee list was confidential, the sessions were all confidential, and so the gossip eventually died down as there was no evidence to give proof to any of the rumors that they were in business for a nefarious purpose.

They'd had such success that now, nearly a year later, they were close to finalizing the plans to purchase a new facility. The Friday partners' meeting consisted almost entirely of Pansy updating them on the negotiations for the buildings they were looking at, and taking suggestions on layout and interior decorating.

Pansy was the one in charge of anticipating and meeting the needs of the client, to provide the best experience. Blaise handled marketing and legal affairs. And Draco managed the employees and the complicated scheduling and matching of clients to avatars.

After the Friday meeting, he walked into the command center and, with Blaise beside him, he reviewed the appointment board. There were several new clients, their applications included on the board. Repeat customers were listed with their preferences and previous Napster history.

There was one name on the board, in particular, that stood out to Draco. It had the same time slot every Friday. The preferences list was short, but the history was long as it showed a different avatar for every session.

As they stood there, Draco quietly adjusted the board indicating a new avatar for the client and marking it as having already been assigned.

Blaise watched him do it, and not for the first time, Draco saw the disapproval on his face.

"You sure you want to keep taking this client, Malfoy?" he groused, low enough that none of the others in the room could hear him. "You know the rules."

"I _made_ the rules, Zabini," Draco responded acidly, "and I'm not breaking any of them."

Blaise sniffed and rolled his eyes before walking off to his office, while Draco turned his attention back to the rest of the board.

* * *

Draco was sitting on the bed when Hermione Granger walked in.

He was always in the same position, which was standard for most of the avatars. Leaning up against the headboard, he was reading from a book in his lap. Since it wasn't possible for an avatar to sleep on duty, they often made the most of their time by reading or studying once their client slept.

She glanced at him, as she always did, to note the appearance of the avatar. Her face didn't show any surprise, as she was used to having a new one for each of her sessions.

There was a couch in the room, because some clients preferred sleeping on a couch, but Hermione always used it to lay out her jacket. She also set her shoes carefully in front of it, and then walked in her socks over to the bed.

"Hello," she greeted him, the same way she always did.

Draco, Polyjuiced today as a slightly pudgy man in the middle of his third decade, put his bookmark into the book and set it on the nightstand.

"Hello," he answered, "welcome back to Napster, Miss Granger." The greeting was standard. Some clients liked a little bit more talk to put them at ease, but Hermione just nodded at him, as she'd heard it many times before.

She didn't get under the covers, she never did. But she laid down on the bed, and he settled down next to her. It was important that the client always indicated how close they were to lay next to each other, either by action or by expressly stating it. As he settled his head onto the pillow, she rolled into his side, her body lined up next to his, and she flung an arm across his waist.

Her hair smelled light and just a bit floral. He assumed it was a shampoo that she used, as it was very familiar to him by now. The feel of her head on his shoulder was also familiar. And so was the shaking of her body as she quietly started to cry.

He placed his arm around her and loosely held her while her tears dripped onto his shirt. Sometimes he rubbed soothing circles on her back. Sometimes he stroked the arm that was wrapped around his waist. Sometimes he rubbed his cheek against the top of her head.

Fridays, he knew, were the day she went to St. Mungo's to see her parents and make the latest attempts to restore their memories. Some weeks she had more success than others, but she always seemed to need to cry afterwards, and she came to Napster to do it. Occasionally, she mentioned what had gone wrong, and Draco gave noncommittal phrases of comfort and commiseration.

When she finally cried herself out, her breathing evened out in sleep and her hand came to rest on his chest. Draco spent the next two hours staring at the familiar sight of the top of her head. Like always, he would tell Blaise that he'd spent the entire time reading the latest Quidditch reports.

* * *

 _A/N: I wrote this story over a year ago, and for some reason, I just could not get it to the point of publishing. Most of the people who read it greatly disliked it, and I kept questioning what/if I should rewrite. I went round and round for months and that just kept stretching out longer and longer, and I'd forget about it, and then something would bring it back up again. And then life got busy, and my beta got busy, but I finally just decided to publish it because I like it. And if you don't, then I'm sorry, but thanks for giving it a shot._

 _Alpha/consulting credits go to: Athenaa, RayAlexander, Elle-Malfoy-Black, DarkDaisies...and I feel like there's some more that I missed, because I must have shown this story to several people in the long 15 months since I wrote it. They all had strong opinions, and if all they do is make me think hard about my story, that's still a hugely valuable service. Also, to my reader lun27, thanks for reminding me that the name of the service that originally inspired this idea is called "Professional Cuddling," you can look it up. If I missed your name, please let me know, and I will add it in._

 _Beta credit: My wonderful cheerleader and editor, brandinm05. She knows just when to cut things and when to keep them._

* * *

 _ **As always, S&R: CRW (CONSTRUCTIVE REVIEWS WELCOME) means that I am open to all reviews as long as they are not abusive. That would include positive feedback, negative opinions and constructive criticism.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer : This is a work of fanfiction using characters and elements from the world of Harry Potter, created and trademarked by JK Rowling. I do not claim ownership over any Harry Potter characters or the Harry Potter world. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and is not claiming to be any part of the Harry Potter canon. Thank you to JK Rowling for letting me play with the characters and not suing me for writing them into a new situation.**_

* * *

NAPSTER

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

Tuesday was unusual because Draco, Blaise, and Pansy, spent the entire morning with the real estate agent finalizing the purchase of their new building. Since Napster had been running quite efficiently, it was no problem to leave the morning in the hands of their assistants, and the three friends had a celebratory luncheon toasting their growing business before heading back to the office.

Pansy went to go relieve Justin of his oversight duties, and bring him his celebratory piece of cake, while Draco and Blaise made their way into the command center.

At first glance, everything looked like it was fine. The avatars were all right on schedule, and the stack of appointment requests looked to be nearly finished for the day.

As Draco reviewed the occupied nap rooms, he noticed that one of the walk-in rooms was in use. They kept two rooms available for some of their more regular clients who made last minute changes to their appointments, or who needed a nap on short notice.

He pulled up the information on that room, and felt his stomach fall. 'Hermione Granger.'

He must have cursed, because Blaise quickly crossed the room and peered over his shoulder at the tell-tale tags.

"Oh," he said, when he saw who it was. He looked sideways at Draco, noting the irritated look on his face. "I'm sure it was handled properly."

"The logs say she only stayed five minutes and then left, but the whole session is paid for."

"Then let customer service handle it, Draco. If she was dissatisfied with something, or if there was an error, they can arrange a reschedule or a refund. That's their job. I suggest you let people do the jobs we hire them for," Blaise advised in a clipped tone. It was obvious he thought Draco was overreacting about the fact that a different person had handled his 'special' client. It was also clear that he wanted to use this opportunity to drive home the point that he thought Draco was too involved with this particular client to begin with.

Draco cut him off before Blaise could give his standard argument about keeping distance from the clients. "I'm going to go debrief the avatar."

He didn't wait to listen to Blaise's response, and took off down the corridors to the reserved rooms.

A wave of his hand allowed him to look through the door as if it was a one-way window, so he could confirm the avatar was in the room alone. The customer was guaranteed privacy, and they were careful to keep no recordings of activity in the room, or show they were being monitored in any other way. However, they felt they needed a way to observe into a room for quality control, and the spell that made this possible was available only to the partners.

Checking up on a session in progress would be a valid use of the power. So technically, no, he wasn't breaking any rules.

He walked in, and the startled avatar looked up from the book he was reading. Since the session was paid for and not cancelled, he was obliged to remain for the entire session, just in case the client returned.

Draco placed a warning on the door that would alert them if Hermione came back, although he rather thought her spontaneous actions to come to Napster out of her normal schedule also meant that her decision to leave the session in-progress was not likely to be reversed.

"Mr Malfoy!"

Draco recognized the squeaky voice of one of their more seasoned employees. It made sense that whoever chose to assign the avatars wouldn't have chosen someone new or inexperienced to handle one of their more prestigious clients. The look on his face indicated that he was worried he was in trouble, as the presence of a partner in a session was highly unusual.

Draco carefully schooled his face back to normal, trying to hide the rising anxiety that he was feeling. He took a seat on the couch and faced the avatar, another nondescript, slightly-overweight, not-quite-middle-aged form. "I understand your client left soon after the session began. I'm just checking in on the unusual circumstance. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Sir, I was going to include it all in the report once the session was finished." He made to rise from the bed where he was seated with his book, but a wave of Draco's hand had him sitting back down.

"If you can, please tell me now as well. I would appreciate it, so I can get your impressions."

The employee took a deep breath. "Well, when she walked in, she was crying really hard. Her shoulders were shaking, and she was a bit wobbly. She put her coat and shoes just there." The man pointed at the area Draco was sitting on the couch. "Then I gave her the standard greeting, and she just looked up at me, shocked, as if she didn't know I was already in the room and was just seeing me for the first time. Then she started looking all around the room, as if she were panicking. I tried asking her if she needed help, but she just kept repeating, 'Not him, oh Merlin, it's not him," and 'Why did I even come here? What was I thinking?' And then she grabbed her coat and ran out."

The anxiety in Draco's stomach gnawed at him as he listened to the report, and it got worse as the story went on. Something must have happened to her parents. She was upset and anxious and came to Napster. Was she expecting to find him? Did she know who he was?

He thanked the man for his report and slowly made his way back to the command center. There was no way he could contact her to check up on her, because then she would know that it was him who had been in her nap sessions, and revealing his identity was against the rules. It wouldn't make sense for the owner of the company to call to find out what had happened with one client. As Blaise had pointed out, that's what Customer Service was for, and no doubt they had already attempted to contact her once she'd abandoned her session.

He would go see if there was any more information from the agent that handled her appointments.

* * *

Three weeks later, he still had no further information.

Gossip—and Pansy—allowed him to deduce that Hermione's parents were still alive and with their status largely unchanged. But there was no explanation as to her sudden Napster appointment, and even more sudden departure from the facility.

And to make it worse, she'd cancelled each of her last two scheduled appointments. Since Customer Service doesn't enquire into the reasons a customer cancels, Draco had no way of knowing if she intended to come back at all.

He was worried about her—worried about whatever situation she was trying to cope with, and worried that he had no way to help her.

The stress was starting to get to him. He was having trouble paying attention in the meetings, and found himself pacing in front of the appointment board, staring at where he expected to see her name.

Fortunately, the expansion into the new facility required very little of his work, initially, since he was mostly in charge of personnel. His workload would greatly increase once the facility opened, and until he trained a personnel manager—something he'd been reluctant to do, as a personnel manager would eventually be all too aware of Draco's tendency to take only one single client, and that client every single time.

Blaise was irritated at his inattention. He was the only one who knew the truth about why Draco was in such a difficult mood. Pansy had tried asking him what was wrong, but Draco just cited stress about the upcoming changes. Both partners were urging him to take some time off.

But instead, he came in every single day and he watched the board, waiting to see if she would keep one of her standing appointments.

When the Friday arrived where customer service confirmed that she had not cancelled, Blaise beat Draco to the board and assigned it out to another employee. Draco was livid, and he reassigned it to himself, and then both partners spent an hour in Draco's office with an ominous Silencing Charm on the room that resulted in Blaise stomping out and slamming his own office door.

* * *

Draco was Polyjuiced and seated on the bed, exactly the same as always, when Hermione walked into her session.

She entered slowly and with some trepidation. Unlike her normal routine, she stood in the doorway with her coat and her shoes still on, and stared straight at him.

He felt his heart beating much too fast as he saw her for the first time in weeks. She looked very tired and worn, and like she was already on the verge of tears.

"Hello," she offered quietly, and waited for him to respond.

"Hello," he answered her, just as quiet. "Welcome back to Napster, Miss Granger."

She closed her eyes, briefly, and he saw the wet streaks of the tears falling down her cheeks. By the time she'd shut the door behind her and started taking off her coat, she was crying really hard. Her shoes were left in a messy pile on the floor.

Seeing her in the state she was in twisted his gut, and he did something he'd never done before. He didn't wait for her to climb into the bed, he just opened his arms, and she came running right into them.

He gathered her onto his lap, his arms wrapped protectively around her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"It's you, it's you," she kept repeating.

He could barely make out her other words. The words "I just couldn't" and "I was afraid to come back" came out several times. He thought he mumbled out apologies.

From some of her other phrases, he pieced together that the tests at St. Mungos were not going well and the healers held out little hope that her parents would recover their memories. Experimental procedures were now being tested, and most of them had little chance of working.

He cradled her against him, and placed his head on top of hers, rocking her while she soaked his shirt with her tears. It seemed bizarre that she would come here to get comfort from a stranger, rather than go to her friends. He must have said it aloud, because at one point she sniffled, "Harry and Ron each have someone. They don't understand what it is to be so alone." Draco had nothing to say to that, so he just kept murmuring comforting phrases into her hair.

When she finally fell asleep, he laid her out on the bed in a more comfortable position, but she didn't loosen her grasp on him. He spent the rest of the session memorizing her face and later didn't bother giving Blaise any excuse at all, since it was clear to them both that he was indeed breaking all the rules.

* * *

 _S &R: Constructive Reviews Welcome (CRW)_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer : This is a work of fanfiction using characters and elements from the world of Harry Potter, created and trademarked by JK Rowling. I do not claim ownership over any Harry Potter characters or the Harry Potter world. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and is not claiming to be any part of the Harry Potter canon. Thank you to JK Rowling for letting me play with the characters and not suing me for writing them into a new situation.**_

* * *

NAPSTER

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

For the next couple of weeks, things were as normal. Hermione didn't miss any of her appointments, and Draco continued to take all of them, despite Blaise's disapproving glares and his threats to tell Pansy what was really going on.

Thanks to some incredibly efficient organizational work from Pansy, the new facility was ready to be opened. This second facility would have a Grand Opening celebration, an open house for the community, something they were unable to do for the first facility. Considering the amount of opposition they initially had from the Wizarding world for their controversial business premise, it had been unwise to have a big public event. Now that Napster had established itself as a trustworthy company in the Wizarding community, even earning accolades and recommendations for its results in aiding those who struggled with mental health problems from the war, it seemed an appropriate time to celebrate their accomplishments.

Draco hadn't expected to see Hermione at the party. Most of their regular clients still felt shame from their reliance on Napster's services, and avoided publically associating their name with the company. Despite the business being considered reputable, knowledge that a wizard or witch constantly frequented the napping service sometimes gave rise to rumors and invasive speculation.

So it took him by surprise to see her standing by the refreshments table in the lobby chatting animatedly with Pansy and Justin. She waved her arm, indicating the room, and it was clear Pansy was soaking up the praise. He could faintly hear their laughter as he tried to focus on the conversation of the wizard in front of him.

After several more minutes of noncommittal one-word responses, he finally extricated himself from the compliments of the older wizard, and slowly made his way over to where he could see Hermione was getting herself something to drink. From across the room he noticed Blaise frowning at him, but he ignored the warning as he poured himself some water.

"Hello Malfoy," she greeted him, politely, sipping her beverage and choosing some cheese and crackers from the table in front of her. "Congratulations on your business's success!"

"Granger," he acknowledged her, trying to calm the rapid beating of his heart as he interacted with her as himself for the first time in years. "A pleasure to see you again." He turned to face her and noted how the darkness of her navy blue dress made her eyes seem warm and bright. She was lovely, and perhaps she'd used a glamour as there were no traces of strain or tears on her face.

"Your new facility is very nice," she offered, by way of making conversation. "I told Pansy that it avoids feeling clinical while still coming across as very modern. It's very cleverly decorated."

"Yes," Draco readily admitted, reaching over to choosing some of the tiny appetizers for his own plate. "The entire business is Pansy's baby and so she's worked very hard at all the aspects of it. It's very important to her that clients feel welcome and comfortable and safe at all times."

When he looked up at her, he noticed that she'd frozen, her hand halfway to her mouth, and her face completely drained of color.

"Are you all right, Granger?" he quickly asked, concerned.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out on the first try. He finally heard a whispered, "It's you!"

If he thought his heart was beating hard before, it sped up so rapidly he felt dizzy with it. There's no way that she could mean what it sounded like. Had she somehow deduced his identity in just those few moments? He didn't see how that was possible, considering he was careful to use a different Polyjuice form for every single one of her sessions. She might have deduced when it was a different employee assigned as her avatar, but there's no way she could have learned who he was.

"What are you talking about, Granger?" he demanded, a little harshly.

She just looked up at him, surprise and a question on her face. The plate in her hands was forgotten. "All this time, it's been you?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I'm part owner of this facility, if that's what you're asking." His attempt to distract her didn't work.

"Don't try to pretend, Malfoy, I know it's you," she said, irritatedly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he repeated, feeling absurdly like he'd been caught performing Dark magic.

Her glance went around the room to the other guests that were speaking nearby, and then she said, in the same swotty voice he remembered from school, "Polyjuice doesn't change your voice, Malfoy."

She put a hand to her head, shaking it, like she was trying to put the pieces all together. "I always thought I recognized your voice, but it had been so long since I'd seen you—as you—in person. I was sure you would have stayed far away from me."

"Granger," he hissed, uselessly, "I can assure you I have no idea what you're talking about." His eyes darted around the room trying to take note of anyone who might be seeing them talking together, or who might be close enough to hear. Fortunately, everyone seemed occupied with their own conversations for now.

She scowled at him. "I'm not wrong! It took me a second to place it, but I listen to your voice as I fall asleep every week, I _know_ it's you."

He quickly downed the water in his hand, wishing it were Firewhisky, and then he scowled back at her. "Granger, even if I knew what you were talking about, which I _don't_ , there's probably some very good _legal reasons_ why I still wouldn't respond to your claims. We have very strict rules at Napster that govern the behavior and conduct of all of our workers, and absolute privacy and anonymity of identity is one of the fundamental tenets of our business that allows it to thrive. So whatever thing you are talking about, you _need to stop_. Now."

He wished he could have said more. That they could have had a few moments to talk and maybe establish a reason for him to see her outside of Napster. But after giving his warning he walked off, cursing himself for forgetting that one of the main scheduling obstacles was making sure no avatar was assigned to a client who might recognize their voice. He really didn't think she could have recognized him so quickly.

But he would have known her voice in an instant, so it was silly of him to assume she wouldn't have eventually figured it out.

He tried not to wonder if her reaction to him meant that her feelings ran deeper, like his apparently did. But no, that was silly, as even if she did have deeper feelings, it was for the avatar that she napped beside, and not for the boy she knew and hated from school.

* * *

She didn't come back. She only barely cancelled her sessions within the courtesy time period, but she'd missed two already, and Draco was a mess.

Was it because of him? Had learning his identity ruined the benefit of her Napster sessions? Was she embarrassed? Or worse, was she disgusted at realizing that she'd cried in the arms of the very same boy who used to make her life miserable at school? Did she hate him?

His mind was circling around with these questions over and over, so that he'd made several mistakes at work, mis-assigning clients, and understaffing busy time periods.

Blaise wanted him to take some time off. "Draco, it's obvious to everyone that you are not yourself. Take a few days, or a week, or _two_ , and get yourself together."

Draco was slumped in a chair in Blaise's office, staring at the carpet. "Do you think she hates me?" he asked, rhetorically. He didn't have to specify who he was talking about as they both knew there was only one 'she' he could be referring to.

Blaise obviously didn't have any more answers than he did. There was just no explanation for why she'd stopped coming to Napster again.

"You shouldn't be thinking about this so much, Draco, she's just a client."

"You know she's not." It was the first time he'd ever admitted as much to him. He was done with pretending that he was just doing his job. "I think I love her, Blaise." Saying the words out loud almost caused a wave of nausea to wash over him. How ridiculous to think he'd fallen in love seeing someone for three hours a week while he was Polyjuiced to look like someone else.

Blaise protested, "'Don't fall in love with the client!' After that fiasco with MacMillan, that's practically the number one rule!"

Ernie MacMillan had fallen in love with one of their regulars, and against the rules he had contacted her, declared himself, and basically freaked her out.

They'd had to pay quite a settlement to her to keep the situation quiet, and Ernie had been let go. And it was why up until Draco's confiscation of every one of Hermione Granger's sessions, they were careful not to allow the same employee to serve a client too many times.

"The number one rule is 'Don't hurt anybody,'" Draco pointed out, not even denying the more salient point of the charge.

Blaise nodded. "And that includes yourself!" He let out a tired exhale, and then sat heavily in the chair next to his friend and business partner. "What were you thinking, Draco? She was never going to see past you being a Slytherin, let alone a pure-blood _and_ a Malfoy. You should have never fallen that deep."

Draco slumped even deeper into the chair. "I know, I screwed up." He put his head in his hands, thinking about all the ways he'd been breaking the rules, pretending that it didn't mean anything and he was just giving the best service because he was the best person for the job. But he'd taken advantage of their secure appointment system. He'd fallen for the client. And worse yet, he'd all but confirmed his identity to her.

"I did warn you," Blaise added, though his tone was kind.

"You did."

"You need to take a vacation, Draco. Get away from here and from this whole mess. Get your head out of your arse and get yourself figured out. When you come back, we can tell Pansy. I don't have to tell you that if Granger goes public with this information, the reputation we've been working on building will take a big hit."

Draco rubbed at his face, the action causing his hair to fall messily over his forehead. "You're right. I'll tell Pansy myself before I go home."

"You do that," was all Blaise said, as he watched Draco leave his office.

Pansy's office was in a quieter part of the building, away from the bustle of the command center. Draco was determined to come clean to her before he left so that she and Blaise would be best equipped to deal with any fallout from his colossal mistake.

What he didn't expect was for her to listen silently to his whole story, and then hand him a slip of paper that had been sitting on her desk.

He took it with confusion and looked down to see an address printed in Pansy's flouncy writing. There was no name.

"I assumed you'd be too afraid to break one last rule to access a client's information for personal gain." She indicated the paper. "Now you don't have to." She waved him off, returning to her folders.

He just stood there staring at the paper, before he hurried to the door with new purpose in his step.

"Don't even think about coming back until you get this all sorted!" she called out to him as he left.

* * *

In front of her house, a charming rowhome on the outskirts of Muggle London, the courage that had brought him so far abruptly departed, leaving him feeling empty and wobbly.

What was he thinking? What was he planning on saying to her? 'Where have you been?' 'Why haven't you come back?' The questions were spinning around in his head, and he almost turned around and left.

Instead, he knocked hard on her door, the thumping sound echoing in his chest with each bang.

When she suddenly opened it, he almost fell in, and realized he still hadn't decided what he was going to say.

"Malfoy!" she exclaimed, no doubt shocked to find him at her doorstep, not least because she lived in the Muggle world.

His mouth worked uselessly for a moment, and then he impatiently ran his hand through his hair, collecting all of his thoughts and funneling them out. "Why didn't you come back, Granger? I tried to explain to you why I couldn't talk about it. But is it because of me? Were you upset to find out that the name behind the avatar was Malfoy?"

Her mouth was open in an O-shape. She blinked, trying to decide where she should answer first.

But he didn't give her any time to say anything. "Is this about how I treated you in school? Because that's all behind me, and has been for years now. I don't think of you that way, I thought you'd have figured that out."

She shook her head and tried to speak again, but he cut her off.

"Or is this about the war?" he demanded. "I apologized for all those things, Granger. I paid all my war reparations, above and beyond everything that was asked of my family. I swear, there's no one who regrets the war more than I do. I don't know what else you can expect of me. But if it bothers you that much, if you're that upset about it and you can't bear to have me there because it's me, I can make sure you have someone else. I should never have done all those sessions for you, anyway, it was against the rules. But I didn't think you'd want someone else to see you like that. But I can pick someone else, or you can pick someone else, and you can go back to your schedule without me."

He was out of breath, rambling, thinking it was a mistake to come to her home and accost her with accusations. But as he finished speaking, she stepped into him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

The action shut him up, and the shock of it mixed with the pleasure of having her close. Her hair smelled of the shampoo that he was familiar with, and his arms automatically came up around her, holding her head to his chest.

He didn't know what it meant, and all of his arguments dissipated into the air.

He felt her start to shake with tears, and he held her, like he always did, and placed his head on top of hers while she cried in the doorway, rubbing his hands in circles on her back.

She sniffled and pulled back to look up at him, and she gave him a watery smile. "We figured it out. We found the answer. My research team has been working around the clock, because we knew we were so close with one of the experimental procedures."

She must have thought he looked confused, because she explained. "Draco, my parents looked at me today. And they knew who I was." More tears fell from her eyes and he understood now that they were tears of joy and tears of relief.

With a careful hand, he wiped the tears from her eyes. Taking a deep breath, he leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers. "That's great, Hermione. That's really great. I'm so glad for you."

"It will take some time to make sure everything has been restored, but all the preliminary tests have a good outlook. I was going to tell you on Friday." She said it like she meant to reassure them both, her words were quick and rushed. "I was coming."

He must have looked unconvinced, because she repeated quietly, "I was coming to see you."

Later, he would feel silly for having come all the way out to her house in a frantic state of mind. But right then all he could feel was grateful that he could be there with her. That it wasn't his fault she hadn't been coming to Napster. That he hadn't ruined everything by being stupid enough to let his feelings run away with his good sense.

"I'm here," he whispered, feeling his heartbeat finally beginning to slow down as the anxiety that had driven him this far faded into contentment at being able to finally hold her. No other words were coming to mind. So he repeated himself, too, "I'm right here."

"I know." And she laid her head back on his shoulder, holding him tighter.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading this little story! And thanks for all the support! As always, I have some of the best readers! In case you're wondering, this is not part of a larger work, and there's no plans for sequels or anything. Just an angsty/sweet little something I came up with one day.

 _ **S &R: Constructive Reviews Welcome (CRW)**_


End file.
